How HUUB aims to give our swimmers the edge in LA 2028

DERBY performance sportswear firm HUUB has brought a world-leading piece of technology to the city to help give swimmers and triathletes a crucial edge as they prepare for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.

- By TELEGRAPH REPORTER

The firm has installed its Measurement of Active Drag (MAD) system at Moorways Sports Village in Moor Lane as part of its work to develop the fastest wetsuits and swimwear on the market.

The system is designed to calculate exactly how much resistance - or drag - a swimmer produces in the water, giving coaches and athletes the data they need to shave vital fractions of a second off race times.

It uses a series of 17 pads which are mounted in a row on a 25m-long metal frame which is then lowered into the swimming pool.

Swimmers then pull themselves along by gripping onto the pads, with the machine measuring the resistance by comparing the force they apply as they pass over the pads with their speed through the water.

The data will enable HUUB's wetsuit designers to better understand how their efforts to streamline the suits are performing, allowing them to make further tweaks in order to increase the swimmer's speed.